Inmate: Drugs, contraband easily obtained inside prison walls

Hidden from the outside world, an illicit marketplace is thriving behind the walls and razor wire of Palm Beach County prisons, an inmate told state and federal authorities.

Favors from corrections officers are bought and sold. Prisoners barter for heroin and cocaine but also for high-end sneakers, electronics, cigars and tattoo ink. Women working for state contractors trade sex for money, the inmate said in documents made public on Friday.

The account, detailed in sworn statements by a Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office narcotics agent, provides a window into the closed and gritty world of county prisons, where the inmate says anything goes.

Against this backdrop of double-dealing and deception, authorities said, five corrections officers and a substance abuse counselor made deals that blurred the line between criminal and guard — dirty transactions that landed them in the Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday.

Circuit Judge Ted Booras set their bail at $22,000 and ordered them to avoid each other after their release. They must surrender their guns to the Sheriff's Office within 24 hours. Only Ellison had posted bond as of Friday evening.

In affidavits for the employees' arrests, the narcotics agent said they took bribes ranging from $400 to $700 and then smuggled cellphones or MP3 players into the compounds.

Once inside, the employees would meet inmates in isolated areas or drop items in garbage cans, where inmates could later retrieve them.

The agent also described inmates' complaints about a culture of corruption permeating Glades Correctional Institution and South Bay Correctional Facility.

In one instance in 2007, a confidential informant identified only as Saffy approached the Glades prison warden about rampant smuggling and drug dealing within the prison, the narcotics agent said.

The warden gave Saffy cash, food and cigarettes and sent him back into the yard. A half-hour later, Saffy returned and handed the warden an ounce of marijuana.

Another confidential informant, identified as Tyrill, told FBI and sheriff's agents that 85 percent of the corrections officers at Glades were crooked.

He said "you can get anything you want, and anything you can get on the street you can get in the facility," the sheriff's agent said.

In West Palm Beach on Thursday, Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Walt McNeil said his agency relies on random searches and cellphone-sniffing dogs to weed out contraband in prisons.

"It's an ongoing problem that we have, not only in Florida but across the country," McNeil said.